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Mix the perfect shade of gray with two or four different paint colors to create a distressed or weathered finish on furniture, walls or trim. Make your own paint from leftover latex paints to economize and get a one-of-a-kind color. Stir up a storm with historical grays in milk paint, chalk paint, period paint collections or chalkboard paint that mimics the color fading of time.

Simple Shades

Any hue with black added to it becomes a shade; add a little black to white, and you get shades of gray. Distress a piece of furniture by mixing a few different combinations of black and white; small amounts of black blended into the white until you reach the gray intensities you need. Ding, gouge, scrape and dent a wood trestle table with hammers, ice picks and chains. Then layer on the grays for a rich, weathered finish. Coat the piece roughly with medium gray; no need to be perfect. Dry-brush on a variety of charcoals, pale grays, pewters, a splatter of black, a streak of white. Partly blend the different shades, leaving distinct areas with uneven colors. Sand the edges of the table where it would have worn over the years, to reveal older layers of paint or variations in the grays. Rub finishing wax with a mild brown tint into the distressed gray table, further emphasizing the impression of age.

Primaries to Tertiaries

Red, yellow and blue make gray when mixed together, while red and blue in equal measure create a purple. Add a little yellow at a time, blending well until the paint is dark gray. Then mix in small amounts of white until you reach the perfect gray. Experiment, mixing the primaries with varying amounts of white to get several shades of gray. Layer them on furniture or walls to simulate the silvering of exposure to weather or the darkening that comes with age. When you play with colors this way, the tertiary grays that result may be warmer, cooler or have different undertones. You get much more subtle control than just mixing white and black.

Bare Cement

Transform a boring boxy apartment into a cool industrial loft with painted faux concrete walls. A light base coat of gray, covered in random streaks of black, blue and brown smeared on with a putty knife, becomes the canvas for your faux art. Draw horizontal pencil lines over the paint; make them board width, about 4 to 6 inches apart. Apply three layers of tinted glaze, again with a putty knife, using a plaster blade to guide the rows of glaze. First, apply a lighter, silvered gray in blotches so the under-paint colors show through here and there. Then repeat with a darker pewter or smoky gray. Blur each glaze application with a rag for a plaster effect. Finally, dilute the original base paint into a translucent top glaze for a realistic -- but entirely fake -- gray concrete wall.

Hints and Tints

Grays that are a nearly imperceptible bit off appear to be vintage colors that may have faded or otherwise been affected by age. Paint an old cabinet light gray with the merest hint of celadon -- the yellow in the green warms the paint and gives it more depth. Lavender paint tempered by pale gray is soft and mysterious, while lavender mixed with pearl-gray is rich and suggests a faded opulence.

About the Author

Benna Crawford has been a journalist and New York-based writer since 1997. Her work has appeared in USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, and in professional journals and trade publications. Crawford has a degree in theater, is a certified Prana Yoga instructor, and writes about fitness, performing and decorative arts, culture, sports, business and education .

Photo Credits

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Crawford, Benna. "What Color Paint Should I Use to Create a Grey Distressed Finish?" Home Guides | SF Gate, http://homeguides.sfgate.com/color-paint-should-use-create-grey-distressed-finish-105479.html. 02 March 2015.

Crawford, Benna. (2015, March 02). What Color Paint Should I Use to Create a Grey Distressed Finish? Home Guides | SF Gate. Retrieved from http://homeguides.sfgate.com/color-paint-should-use-create-grey-distressed-finish-105479.html

Crawford, Benna. "What Color Paint Should I Use to Create a Grey Distressed Finish?" last modified March 02, 2015. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/color-paint-should-use-create-grey-distressed-finish-105479.html

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